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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Calvin and Hobbes and Susie (The Little Nemesis Who Could)

Yeah, that'd be my expression too.

There are few things that immediately
cause everyone within hearing distance when they're mentioned to stop
what they're doing in order to exult in how awesome they are. Calvin
and Hobbes is one of those
things. It's one of the few comics that knew how to balance the
perfect combination of childhood nostalgia with curiosity with
insanity. And it didn't overstay it's welcome, leaving exactly when
it was time to go.

As a
kid, I was probably not that different from Calvin. A human wrecking
ball with too much imagination and time, and not nearly enough
concept of how the world really works. But I have to say that my
favorite character has always been Susie Derkins.

It's
funny, because in any other strip, Susie would be the stereotypical
wet blanket. She's Calvin's neighbor and nemesis, the girl who he'll
probably develop highly confusing feelings for in puberty. For now,
though, he's happy to pelt her with snowballs and try to ruin her
day.

Susie
awesome because she never lets her get it down. Now, she's not one of
those insipid cartoon characters who is incapable of having bad
feelings about people. No, she's just optimistic. She gets that
Calvin is annoying, and sometimes she turns the tables on him,
beating him at his own games of irritation and even kidnapping
Hobbes.

Susie's
never just the butt of the joke, and that's what elevated her past
the other little girls in comics about kids. It was never about Susie
at all, but about Calvin and his view of the world. While this could
be viewed as sexist in that it was never about Susie at
all, I choose to see it as
pretty cool that Susie was such a good nemesis for Calvin to have.
She was smart and motivated. She clearly knew that she wanted to do
something important with her life, and she wasn't going to let Calvin
hold her back.

She
was, however, going to try to be friends with Calvin, because she was
nice. She reached out and tried to include him, and when he
inevitably bit back at her, she took it in stride and kicked his
butt.

So, I
guess what I'm saying is that while I totally related to Calvin as a
kid, I wanted to be Susie. I wanna be that cool, and it makes me sad
that there aren't as many examples of comic kids with that level of
awesomeness.

True love is messing with someone and knowing they'll mess with you back.

tangentialmenagerie.wordpress.com Actually she does get down from time to time. In fact her vulnerability, as well Calvin's (see the breakin arc and the dead bird arc) is part of what her makes such a great character